


One-Time Thing

by AbsentMinds



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Illyrian Camps, Illyrians, Training, let nesta sleep!!!, nesta is tired and does not care about training, rated t bc i think i said the f word once lmao idk, this has some soft nessian, this is just bc of a conversation we had in a gc on tumblr lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:55:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27607967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbsentMinds/pseuds/AbsentMinds
Summary: Cassian is over the moon when Nesta finally agrees to train with him, however, it does not go the way he expected it to.
Relationships: Nesta Archeron/Cassian
Comments: 2
Kudos: 43





	One-Time Thing

**Author's Note:**

> This is based off a conversation we had on a tumblr group chat (shout out to the Nesta Positivity group chat!) I just had to write it.

Today was possibly the best day of Cassian's life. He knew that perhaps that was a bit of an exaggeration, but he didn't care. Cassian was feeling happy in a way he hadn't felt in a long time, and it was such a special occasion that he couldn't help but feel like it was well deserved. After all, after knowing Nesta for almost 2 years, she had finally decided to train with him. 

At first, when she had agreed, Cassian hadn't even registered her answer. He had just carried on with his rant, trying to persuade her to train. It was only when she had thrown a pillow at his face that Cassian had registered the fact that she had agreed to train with him. Cassian had stood in the doorway of her bedroom for a good two minutes with his mouth wide open in shock as he clutched the pillow she had thrown at him. 

Once his brain had finally started working again, and he had checked she wasn't joking, he had been thrilled. She had agreed to wake up at sunrise, another shock for Cassian, as he knew Nesta liked her sleep. He also knew that she didn't always get her sleep these nights, and so he was surprised that she was willingly giving up sleep. He had considered letting her sleep in, and train a little later, but he also didn't want to go easy on her. In the end, he had decided that she could have a nap after they had done some training. Nesta was so unused to working out that she would probably need a nap anyway. 

He woke her up the next morning at 5 am, which Nesta was less than pleased about. He didn't want to leave it too long after she agreed, since there was always the possibility she would change her mind. If they trained as soon as she agreed, there was less time for her to back out. 

Cassian had wanted to train Nesta for so long, mostly because he didn't want her to rely on anyone else to protect her, including him. He knew he could protect her, but he had failed before, and wouldn't be surprised if he failed again. Nesta however, would never fail at protecting herself again. He knew how strong she was, and knew that she would never allow herself to be put in that position. Cassian trusted nobody to look out for Nesta apart from Nesta herself. 

Nesta quickly ate her bowl of oats, looking so adorably sleepy as she did. Cassian was quite proud of the restraint he showed in terms of making lewd comments in the morning. He sometimes just couldn't help himself when it came to Nesta so he had even managed to shock himself by not saying anything that annoyed her in the morning. However, perhaps that had more to do with the fact that he didn't want to annoy Nesta and make her change her mind in the last minute and go back to the bed which he knew would be calling her name. It probably also had a little to do with the fact that he would be winding Nesta up while they trained. In Cassian's humble opinion, there was no better way to train someone, who didn't want to be trained, than to annoy them so much they want to learn how to kick your butt. 

He waited for Nesta to get dressed, and then they walked down towards one of the training rings. At this hour of the morning, the only ones up were the females, getting ready for their day and preparing everything so that when their fathers, brothers, sons and husbands woke up, their food and clothes would all be prepared for their day. Although it disgusted him that these women had to work like they were servants, not equals, he had to say, for once, the set out suited him. He didn't want all the males to be awake when he trained Nesta. There was no way he could annoy her or flirt with her when they were around, they were both too on edge when it came to the males in the camp, but for good reason. Plus, he knew that Nesta would never want to train in front of people like that, the possibility of being mocked was too much. 

"We're just going to be working on your basic training today. I want to see how much you already know, what kind of stance you have, and your body strength. Once I've tested that, I'll have a better idea about what we have to work on next time," Cassian explained as they walked to the ring. Cassian didn't even want to think about how long he had spent thinking about the imaginary work out routines he could do with Nesta. 

Nesta stopped walking and glared at Cassian, who had turned to look at her in confusion. "This is a one-time thing." 

"What?" Cassian asked dumbly as he stared at her, his confusion not abating in the slightest. 

"Do I need to spell it out for you? This is a one-time thing because you wouldn't shut up about it. This is to get you off my back. That is it. I still don't want to be a warrior, and I still don't care about fighting." 

"Okay, but if you enjoy this session, or find it helpful, will you then come back for more?" Cassian asked, knowing all too well just how much hope had seeped out into his voice. 

There was silence as Nesta thought about it. Cassian wished, not for the first time, that he could see what was going on in her head. He would do anything to know the inner workings of her brilliant mind. 

"Don't hold your breath," she eventually responded, as she brushed past him to get into the training ring. 

Cassian bounded up to the training ring behind her, needing to expend the nervous and excited energy that seemed to be radiating off him. Perhaps he should've let Nesta wake up later and gone for a fly to work off some of this energy because he knew by the slight curl on Nesta's lip that he probably looked ridiculous. 

"Okay, first up, we'll do a quick warm-up before we get into the actual training.”

“No, just do the actual stuff already. I don’t want to be at this all day. I’m already so bored.” 

Nesta didn’t whine, he knew that. Nesta Archeron was a put-together female, the type that never had a hair out of place. This didn’t feel like the Nesta he knew. This almost sounded like she was whining about doing exercise. It threw him off-kilter a little, but then again, that was always the game they played. They kept throwing each other off-kilter. 

And so, with that thought in mind, he decided that he had refrained from teasing Nesta for too long. “Sweetheart, if you want my hands on your body, you don’t have to make life so difficult for yourself. All you have to do is ask,” he smirked as she frowned, ignoring his comments and trying to figure out what he meant. She simply raised her eyebrow in a way that clearly meant that Cassian needed to explain himself. “If you don’t warm-up, then you’ll end up injuring yourself, probably pulling a muscle, and then I would obviously have to massage you and your sore muscles because I could never just leave you in pain like that.”

Nesta snorted, looking disgusted, and then started copying Cassian as he moved. Soon enough, they were warmed up enough, and Nesta was already panting. 

“I would’ve thought you’d have better stamina than that sweetheart,” Cassian laughed as she went to drink some water, throwing a quick wink at her. 

Nesta filled her cheeks with water, and then walked over to Cassian, and spat it out all over him. Cassian let out a gasp of surprise, his shirt now dripping. 

“You know Nes, if you wanted me out my shirt, there were less childish ways of doing it,” he wiggled his eyebrows at her before ripping his shirt off him and throwing it somewhere behind him. 

Nesta narrowed her eyes at him but said nothing. Cassian then got the bandages and walked towards her. “Okay, so we’re going to start with some punching. It is my personal belief that everyone should be able to throw a good punch. Just think, then you wouldn’t have to go for the obvious move and try and kick me in the nuts!”

“My obvious move worked perfectly commander,” Nesta replied monotonously, raising her eyebrow to show how unimpressed she was. 

Cassian grabbed her hand and softly started wrapping it so they wouldn’t get hurt. “Still, if you’re going to hit me, I’d like you to change it up every now and again. Wouldn’t want things to get boring for us now, would we?”

Cassian finished wrapping her hands and then held up a padded square-shaped thing towards Nesta. “You’re going to punch this as hard as you can.”

Nesta made a fist, which Cassian was impressed to see was correct, with her thumb on the outside. However, when she punched the pad, Cassian didn’t even feel it move in his hands. 

“Nes, I know you have more strength than that. Punch it properly.”

“I don’t really want to.”

Cassian looked at her, starting to feel a little exasperated now. Of course, Nesta would agree to train, only to make it as difficult as she possibly could for him. “Why do you not want to?” he asked, deciding to humour her. 

“It hasn’t done anything to me. Why should I hit it?”

Cassian threw the pad down on the floor, and then held up his hands, palms facing Nesta. “Fine, hit me instead.”

Nesta muttered “Fine,” and then raised her hands in front of her again, making fists. 

She threw a punch, this time pulling back more, making sure her stance would allow for a better swing. Cassian braced himself, finally about to get a proper punch from her, only for her fist to softly tap his hand. 

Cassian let out an irritated huff as mischief danced in Nesta’s eyes. He opened his mouth to tell her off when Devlon appeared. Cassian cursed the male internally, but went over to him anyway, telling Nesta to wait for him.

Devlon, as per usual had decided to be a pain in his backside. Today, Devlon’s complaint was of course, that the commander of the Illyrian armies should not be further weaponising a witch. She was already too powerful and didn’t need his help. 

Usually, Cassian would’ve argued with him, but today, Nesta was taking all his energy and he really did not have the time or patience to deal with the likes of Devlon and his paranoia today, no matter how much Nesta enjoyed the way Devlon was afraid of her. 

“Devlon, for fuck’s sake, shut up. Nesta learning how to throw a punch won’t kill us, she’s on our side. It’s a good thing if she can fight.”

With that he turned away, a clear signal for Devlon that the conversation was over, only to stop dead in his tracks. Nesta was gone. He told her to stay where she was, and to practice punching the punching bag which was hung up on the edge of the training ring. He walked over to the punching bag, which now had a massive split down the middle. Damn it! He knew that Nesta could punch properly. Clearly she had a good right hook from the looks of the punching bag. Cassian almost wanted her to punch him with her full strength. He clearly had some issues, but he couldn’t think about those right now, not with Nesta missing. 

Nesta was clearly trying to test him, and make this the worst training session he had ever done so that he never asks her to do it again. He ran his fingers through his hair, trying not to pull it out in frustration as he looked around the area surrounding the ring, scanning for Nesta. 

Someone cleared their throat behind him. It was rare that someone could sneak up on him, but clearly Nesta had his nerves fried so badly that this was what he had come to. He turned to see a female frowning at him. 

“She’s over there,” she said, before Cassian could say anything. She sounded almost amused, although her face was carefully blank. 

“Who?” Cassian asked stupidly. 

“The witch,” the female shrugged and pointed at the pile of crash mats that were used for the younglings when first teaching them to do specialist manoeuvres in the skies. They were the only ones not too proud to use them. 

Cassian thanked the female, and walked over to the crash mats with a frown on his face. What could Nesta possibly want with the crash mats? His question was answered when he got closer, only to see Nesta curled up like a cat, basking in the sunlight, fast asleep. 

Cassian let out a sigh, but couldn’t help but smile a little as he picked her up and took her back to the cabin, ignoring the strange looks he got from the other females. Perhaps next time, he would set Nesta’s training at a later time. Clearly the early mornings did not agree with Nesta. 

**Author's Note:**

> This didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to but oh well. Let me know what you thought of it! Please leave me kudos and comments, they truly make my day!


End file.
